Protocols & Routines

🎥 Tutorial

Order of Operations

Solve 2-Step Equations

How-To

• Find a question / word problem

• Remove the question (leave problem stem)

• Give students the answer and ask them to convince you that it’s true

Benefits

• Fear of being wrong is reduced

• Slows students down

• Goal shifts from finding solutions to communicating understanding

• Moving beyond procedures

• Gets student collaborating (use small groups / pairs)

• Emphasizes drawing (representational/pictorial)

• Protocol is easy on the fly and subject-agnostic

How-To

• Find a question / word problem

• Remove the question (leave problem stem)

• Give students the answer and ask them to convince you that it’s true

Benefits

• Fear of being wrong is reduced

• Slows students down

• Goal shifts from finding solutions to communicating understanding

• Moving beyond procedures

• Gets student collaborating (use small groups / pairs)

• Emphasizes drawing (representational/pictorial)

• Protocol is easy on the fly and subject-agnostic

How-To

• Find a passage, word problem, text, or task

• Remove any overarching question

• First Read ⇒ Ask students to describe the situation

• Read passage, word problem, text, or task 

• Second Read ⇒ Ask a question that builds upon the first read and towards the third read (this will vary depending on task/subject)

• Read passage, word problem, text, or task

• Third Read ⇒ Ask/Reveal the overarching question

• Read passage, word problem, text, or task

• **At this point you can ask students to share strategies/ideas to answer the overarching question.

*After each read, record student thinking in a visible space.

Benefits

• Gives students the right tools to participate in grade-level work

• Retains and gives access to grade-level vocabulary

• Collaboration after third read

• Makes student thinking visible

HOW-TO

1. Find a collection of objects, formulas, words, images,...that are all similar and different at the same time. 

2. Display the collection and give students 1 minute of independent think time to pick which one doesn’t belong and come up with a justification.

3. Give students time in groups (breakout rooms) to share their thinking.

4. Make student thinking visible by recording student/group responses on the board.

BENEFITS

1. Invitation to the learning. Every student should be able to justify why they think one item is different from the others.

2. Students collaborate and share their thinking.

3. Quick activity (<10 minutes).

4. Teacher gains insight into the vocabulary and level of thinking students are doing.

HOW-TO

1. Identify and display a picture, graph, equation, table, … 

2. Ask students what they notice and what they wonder.

3. Give 1  minute of independent think time. (Have students give a thumbs up at their chest to signal that they are ready to share.)

4. Group students to share. (2-3 minutes)

5. Collect and display student responses.

BENEFITS

1. Sentence starters make the content more accessible because students don’t have to think through the correct phrasing.

2. Anyone can notice and wonder. This is an invitation to the learning.

3. Collaboration - Group students to share their noticings and wonderings.

4. Teacher gains insight into the vocabulary students are using and their knowledge of the topic.

HOW-TO

1. Find a question, task, image, book cover, …

2. Ask students to make an estimation or guess about either the solution, character, story line,...

3. If the estimate is a quantity, ask for a low, high, and just right estimate prior to formal work/discussion.

4. Make student thinking visible by recording their responses.

BENEFITS

1. Students get to practice estimating and guessing based on the information provided and possibly their background knowledge...

2. Easily promote inquiry.

3. If working with estimates, students gain a sense of reasonableness prior to making calculations.

4. By asking for an estimate/guess, the problem becomes more accessible to students. (They don’t have to be precise in their thinking.) 

If you prep for the state test (3rd - Alg1), use these protocols to give students better practice. Don't do more practice, do better practice.